On to the Adriatic

Tuesday April 11, 2023

Last night, I was writing and practicing loading pictures to my iPad, when the new wireless keyboard, I had bought died. We soon discovered that the charging cable for the keyboard was left behind, so we were up later than usual looking for electronics stores in our next destination. This led to me looking at Lecce where we have a 45 minute wait between trains, for some stores this morning. I discovered two stores so we practically ran down the hill the 1.8 miles to make an earlier 0825 train, I saw that gave me time to walk to the store in Lecce before our connection. That was no fun. When we got to Lecce, I headed to a store while Carol waited at the station with our packs. Somehow, I got misplaced ( I blame poor Italian street signs) and then I did not have enough time to correct the error and make it back so I returned to the station unfulfilled. We validated our tickets because in Italy the tickets you buy at the station are good for any time but you have to validate them in a timed machine before you get on or you can be fined. We walk to our track a train pulls up but no it is not ours. It pulls away empty and then the sign tells us we have a 5 minute retardo (delay), then 10 minute which in reality is 15 minutes and once on the train it turns to 30 minutes before we depart. This causes us to miss our connection in the small village of Maglie so we have to wait an hour and a half for the next train. I leave Carol again, with the packs and head out to see if I can find lunch nearby. Nearby turns into not so nearby but I find a Conad grocery store so go in to check it out. I am able to buy a couple of rolls, coppocolla, and some really fresh burrata cheese from the deli. I head back and we enjoy our sandwiches. Twenty minutes later our train arrives. It is a single car, diesel engine and driver included, probably WWII era. It may not be fast but it sure is slow. We stop in several tiny stations as we travel through olive tree country.

Twenty five minutes later we are in Otranto, two hours later than planned. We have a one mile walk from the station and take a very small detour to an electronics store, which even though it says open is clearly closed for afternoon siesta. Maybe tomorrow. Our legs hurt from our morning fast walk and I am actually sweating for the first time on the trip as it is sunny today. We arrive and our hostess meets us, shows us the place and says her goodbye. We move a little slow but still manage to head out at 1530 to check out the Cathedral and a Baslica. Poor signage again causes us to take a more circuitous route than planned but once in the old town, the cathedral is easy to find. We walk in to see several interesting things.. There is also a mosaic floor from the 12th century made of multicolored tiles from local limestone. It depicts the tree of life including Adam and Eve, Queen of Sheba, King Solomon, Cain and Abel, King Arthur, the last judgement and more. Unfortunately, they still use the cathedral and chairs cover large portions of the tree. What we can see is pretty amazing. The floor took four years to complete.

Next, at the front of the cathedral are glass displays that house the skulls and bones of 800 decapitated martyrs who were murdered by the invading Turks in the 15th century for refusing to convert to Islam. The cathedral was turned into a mosque and then back to a cathedral after the Italians took back the city. In an altar by the bones is the rock that was used to kill each and every one of the martyrs. The cathedral itself, was completed in 1088 and was built on the remains of an early Christian Temple. It has columns said to come from a temple of Minerva. It is a very beautiful space still preserved and used in the lower level of the Cathedral. To me it is almost more beautiful than the cathedral above with stunning arches and domed spaces. The Cathedral is definitely worth seeing.

We have some time before the Church of St Peter is supposed to open so we wander around scouting a few places on our restaurant list seeing if there are menus and whether they are ope or not. It is till early in the season here so it is hard to know what is open or not as many places do not have signs to tell you. We find the walk that goes along the water and also,get some nice views of the town walls and castle fortifications. The colors of the water is beautiful but due to the strong breeze and choppiness not as good as we hope for tomorrow. We head to the church of San Pietro only to discover that it is closed so our information must be wrong. We walk over to the TI (tourist information) which is located at the Arogonese castle and get a map. I also ask about San Pietro and apparently it is no longer open for visits. The Castle is more of a fortress built by the Arogonese of Naples from 1485 to 1498 over an existing building. It had a moat with a drawbridge into its only entrance. We choose not to go inside as reviews said there was not much to see. There are more castles in our future to explore.

We return home, chill for an hour and then out the door to go eat. We choose Agli Angelin Ribelli as Carol eyed a ravioli dish with scampi and tomato pesto. This is what she orders and we also get Orecchiette with regional ricotta to share. Zuppa di Cozze (mussels in a broth) is our appetizer. Over 30 mussels so it was plenty for us. A bottle of red wine of course finished off our order. The mussels were so fresh and tasty and the broth was excellent. The ravioli filled with scampi stole the show, truly a wonderful dish. A very nice meal. After dinner, we stroll around, verify which of our other choice restaurants are open (2 out of 4) and enjoy our passiegetta. The cathedral is lit up beautiful as we walk by. Back at the apartment, we basically crash as it has been a long day and we are still adjusting to the time but overall feeling good. Tomorrow should be a nice relaxing day. Expenses Train from Ostuni to Otranto 20.20E Sandwiches from Conrad Grocery 5E Dinner at Agli Angelin Ribelli 57E Lo Spioncino Apartment 53.41E Walked 12.6 Miles